Curated by Matthew Affron, Curator of Modern Art and Associate Professor, McIntire Department of Art

In the first US retrospective of the work of Émilie Charmy (1878-1974), The Fralin will rediscover this distinctive and provocative artist, one of the most original female
voices of modern art in Paris during the first half of the 20th century. Approximately forty paintings—the majority of which have never appeared in the US—will present this
artist, an exhibitor at the legendary 1913 Armory Show, in a new light. Charmy's painting engaged with major artistic currents, from impressionism and post-impressionism to fauvism,
before World War I, and she pursued an expressive, modernist naturalism thereafter.

From the very beginning of her career, Charmy was defined according to the notion of the femme-peintre, a term whose currency in the early 20th century signaled a relative expansion
in the visibility of womenartists among dealers, collectors, and critics interested in modern French art. Yet what made Charmy's art distinctive and provocative in its own time was
that it seemed to elude simple gendered expectations. The critics were unanimous in finding virile qualities in her expressive, physical, rough style, but surely they were also
reacting to her handling of subject matter, particularly in the nudes, some of which developed a remarkably frank and complex presentation of sexuality.

Charmy's success continued through the 1930s until World War II swept away most of her personal and professional networks. Though she continued to develop her work in new directions,
notably with self-portraits that featured a curious and compelling fusion of introspection and masquerade, Charmy fell out of the public eye. Only recently has the artist started to
resurface, and The Fralin is pleased to present this retrospective of her work, developed with the support of major collectors and museums in the United States, France,
and Great Britain.

The Fralin Museum of Art's programming is made possible by the generous support of The Joseph and Robert Cornell Memorial Foundation.

The exhibition is made possible through the generous support of Pamela K. and William A. Royall, Jr., and the Jefferson Trust, an initiative of the U.Va. Alumni Association.

Reproduction of Artists Rights Society images on The Fralin Museum of Art website, including downloading, is prohibited by copyright laws and international conventions without the express written permission of Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.